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Michael "pastor" (= archbishop) of Apros (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: ..Θ̅Υ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΑΠΡ
ΜΙΧΑΗΛ
ΠΟΙΜΕΝΑ
ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣ
ΚΟΡΗ

Ἄπρου Μιχαὴλ ποιμένα σκέποις, Κόρη

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: ..Θ̅Υ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΑΠΡ
ΜΙΧΑΗΛ
ΠΟΙΜΕΝΑ
ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣ
ΚΟΡΗ

Ἄπρου Μιχαὴλ ποιμένα σκέποις, Κόρη

Accession number BZS.1958.106.170
Diameter 21.0 mm; field: 17.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 46.1. Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 838. Cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 128.

Translation

Ἄπρου Μιχαὴλ ποιμένα σκέποις, Κόρη.

Virgin, may you protect Michael, pastor of Apros.

Commentary

Twelve-syllable verse inscription. Following Laurent, we would attribute this seal to the Michael who signed a document of 1072 (see N. Oikonomides, "Un décret synodal inédit de Jean VIII Xiphilin," REB 18 [1960] 57). Cf. Asdracha, Thrace orientale, 282.

Situated in Turkish Thrace (modern Kermian), Apros was already an autocephalous archiepiscopate in the second quarter of the seventh century and was raised to the status of a metropolis in the second half of the twelfth century. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 650-51; Asdracha, Thrace orientale, 235-36, 281-83.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Un décret synodal inédit du patriarche Jean VIII Xiphilin (Open in Zotero)
  • La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)